Chapter 1184: Cyberspace Crisis
"Warmaster! Our troops will serve as the vanguard to Terra, and your troops will follow us!" After saying this, Lorgar commanded the fleet to go deep into the Webway.
The Spirit of Vengeance followed closely behind, but just as it accelerated, its bridge was shrouded in a scarlet alarm light.
Horus Lupercal stood in front of the holographic tactical table, every line of his golden power armor glowing bloody under the flashing warning lights.
His fingers dug into the metal rim of the console, and the adamantium armored gauntlet groaned under the pressure.
The Warmaster's eyes were fixed on the holographic star map. The red wave representing the demon army was spreading towards Terra at an alarming speed, while the blue light spots representing the Imperial fleet were chasing behind like a trapped beast.
"Speed up! Get back to Terra at full speed!"
Horus' voice was like thunder, shaking the bulletproof glass of the bridge slightly.
A rare anxiety burned in his pupils, and the veins on his temples were clearly visible.
This was unlike him. The Lord of the Luna Wolves was always known for his calmness, but at this moment, Terra's safety made him feel for the first time what true fear was.
He worried about what would happen if his father died, if the empire fell, if humanity didn't survive...
"The demon army is just ahead." Horus turned to the navigation deck, his voice as low as a volcano about to erupt, "Can we intercept them before they reach Terra with our speed?"
The navigation officer's forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat. His fingers slid rapidly on the holographic projection, and the calculation data flowed like a waterfall in front of his eyes.
When the final result emerged, the officer's Adam's apple rolled with difficulty.
"It's difficult, Warmaster." His voice was as dry as sandpaper. "Our speed has reached the limit of Webway navigation - equivalent to hundreds of times the speed of light in conventional space, but the demon fleet seems... not restricted by the laws of physics."
The officer pointed to a set of data with trembling fingers: "According to calculations, they will arrive in Terra's orbit at least 3.7 standard hours earlier than us."
"Three hours? Dorn and the others should be able to hold on..." Horus comforted himself.
However, at this moment...
"Warmaster! It's bad!"
Loken's voice came from the entrance of the bridge along with the sound of hurried footsteps.
Loken's power armor was covered with traces of energy burns, and it was obvious that he had just come from a damaged area.
His face had rarely lost its usual calmness, and there was a flicker of anxiety in his gray-blue eyes.
The moment Horus turned around, the Spirit of Vengeance suddenly shook violently.
A strange purple-black energy wave penetrated through the webway barrier, and the bridge's lighting system was instantly extinguished, leaving only the emergency light source casting a blood-red shadow.
"The power of the Warp has invaded the Webway!" Loken placed a detector emitting sparks heavily on the tactical table.
In the holographic projection of the instrument, the originally stable network structure is being twisted and deformed, like plasticine being kneaded by an invisible giant hand.
“We are being trapped in a self-contained space!”
Horus rushed to the observation window, and the scene before him almost made his blood freeze...
The iridescent walls of the webway were fading, replaced by a wriggling mass of flesh and blood.
Huge eyeballs opened from the flesh walls, brass-colored blood vessels spread through the passages, and the air was filled with a stench mixed with rust and rotting flesh.
What's even more terrifying is that the passage in front of the fleet is closing at a speed visible to the naked eye, like the esophagus of some giant beast swallowing.
"All fleets must brake!"
Horus's order came in time.
The hundreds of frigates in the front barely stopped before the passage closed, but a Moon-class cruiser had too much inertia and its bow crashed directly into the flesh wall.
In an instant, countless tentacles with barbs stretched out from the flesh wall and wrapped around the cruiser.
The ship's armor melted like wax under the corrosive slime. The screams of the crew were heard through the communication channel, and then stopped abruptly.
"Activate the Geller Force Field! Maximum power!"
Horus' voice echoed across the bridge. The hull of the Vengeful Spirit began to tremble, and the massive anti-warp device hummed under the strain.
A light blue energy barrier unfolded from the hull, burning the flesh and blood tissue that tried to attach to it into ashes.
Other warships followed suit, and for a moment, tens of thousands of blue light balls lit up in the webway, like fireflies in the dark.
“Warmaster!” the Tech-Priest’s voice cracked from the damage to his mechanical vocal cords. “The Webway coordinate system is completely messed up! We…we are lost!”
Horus slammed his fist on the console, denting the metal surface.
His brain was working rapidly, analyzing every possible option.
Force a breakthrough? The fleet might be crushed by the creeping webway.
Waiting for rescue? Terra can't wait.
Sailing in the opposite direction? You may never find a way out.
At this moment, Horus caught a glimpse of something unusual out of the corner of his eye. In a certain area of the flesh wall, the wriggling tissue seemed to be thinner than other places, and a faint light could be seen coming out from behind.
"Loken!" Horus suddenly pointed in that direction, "Scan that area!"
Loken immediately executed the order, and the scanning beam penetrated the flesh and blood. The feedback image made everyone gasp. There was an almost invisible crack there, leading to another branch of the webway!
"It's Magnus!" Horus suddenly understood that Magnus was guiding them.
A resolute look appeared on the Warmaster's stern face. He turned to the ship's communication system, and his voice spread to every warship:
"Attention all units! Concentrate firepower on coordinates 7-9-3! We will open up a new path!"
The Spirit of Vengeance's macrocannon array began to charge, and the hum of accumulated energy made the air throughout the bridge vibrate.
Other warships also adjusted their formations and aimed their main guns at the target area.
"Fire!"
Tens of thousands of light beams shot out at the same time, forming a destructive energy torrent in the confined network space.
Under such intensive firepower, a huge gap was torn in the barrier of flesh and blood, revealing the intricate network of branches behind it.
But the price was equally heavy. The violent energy feedback caused one-third of the artillery to overload and explode, and several frigates were overturned by the shock wave because they were too close to the explosion point.
What's even more terrifying is that the enraged web began to shrink violently, twisting madly like a wounded beast.
"Full speed ahead!" Horus grabbed the command platform tightly, "Charge!"
The Imperial fleet shot towards the rapidly closing gap like an arrow.
The first few warships successfully passed through, but a battlecruiser was too large and was cut in half by the suddenly contracting flesh wall.
Millions of crew members were killed instantly in the vacuum, their bodies and the wreckage of the ships being swallowed up by the wriggling web.
When the Spirit of Vengeance finally broke out of the death trap, Horus's tactical panel showed that the fleet had lost 17% of its combat power. But what was more worrying was that -
They were now on a completely unfamiliar branch of the Webway, and their navigation systems were in chaos.
On the wall of the passage in the distance, a mark in the direction of Terra could be vaguely seen, but the path was hopelessly tortuous.
"Recalculate the route." Horus' voice was hoarse with fatigue, "We must..."
His words were suddenly interrupted. On the tactical panel, a familiar signal suddenly appeared - it was Magnus's psychic mark!
